Linking encrypted datasets using common identifiers

Abstract

A device, system and method for linking encrypted data sets using common encrypted identifiers in encrypted space. A first and second parties' encrypted data sets may include first and second respective encrypted data and associated first and second respective encrypted identifiers. The first and second encrypted identifiers may be converted into a first and second respective sets of a plurality of elemental identifier components. Each of the plurality of elemental identifier components in each component set characterizes a distinct numeric property of the corresponding converted encrypted identifier. The first and second sets of the plurality of elemental identifier components may be composed, component-by-component, to generate a plurality of component-specific results. If the plurality of component-specific results are determined to satisfy a matching criterion indicating that the first and second encrypted identifiers match, the first and second encrypted data associated with the first and second matching encrypted identifiers may be linked.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62 / 939,723, filed Nov. 25, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]Embodiments of the invention relate to the field of data encryption, decryption and security.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Today, massive amounts of data live in many organizations, with barriers between them, erected by mistrust, economic incentives and regulatory hurdles. When secret data, such as, personal or medical data is involved, privacy becomes a major concern for all parties involved, as that information can be used to identify or exploit the individuals.[0004]To encourage collaboration, while still protecting data secrecy, cryptosystems have been developed that allow parties to operate and execute computations on encrypted data sets (i.e., ciphertexts) in an encrypted domain. Multiple different parties may provide multiple di...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention provides a way to link encrypted data sets based on common identifiers. The identifiers are encrypted and can only be decrypted with secret keys. The method involves comparing the identifiers and converting them into a set of elemental identifier components. These components are used to determine if the identifiers match and link the associated data sets. This allows for joint computations to be executed on the data sets without exposing the unencrypted data to other parties. The technical effects of the invention are improved data security and privacy, as well as more efficient data analysis and processing.

Problems solved by technology

Today, massive amounts of data live in many organizations, with barriers between them, erected by mistrust, economic incentives and regulatory hurdles.

These types of joint computations, however, introduce security risks as the encrypted data sets often use secret information such as sensitive identifiers (e.g., social security numbers, credit card numbers, etc.) to identify and thus link common records in the datasets.

Correlating encrypted identifiers in an encrypted space may be difficult and prohibitively slow using current methods, such as, fully homomorphic encryption comparisons.

This inefficiency is only exacerbated as dataset size and thus the number of associated identifiers grows, which results in an exponential increase of pairwise combinations of identifier comparisons.

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